


It's supposed to make you feel something

by wrtingupastorm



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, Prompt: Bronan bonding, Ronan Lynch & Blue Sargent Friendship, TRC Spring Fling, model!Ronan, they're both little shits who begrudging love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23944288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrtingupastorm/pseuds/wrtingupastorm
Summary: Blue's in trouble.Her final art project is due and for some insane reason she thought it would be a good idea to bully Ronan Lynch into being her model. What was she thinking?
Relationships: Ronan Lynch & Blue Sargent
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33
Collections: TRC Spring Fling





	It's supposed to make you feel something

**Author's Note:**

  * For [artemris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemris/gifts).



> Hello everybody!
> 
> Hope everyone is doing ok and if you've been in lockdown/quarantine have been keeping sane and safe.  
> This is my contribution to the 2020 Raven Cycle Spring Fling.  
> The prompt was some Blue and Ronan bonding which is my absolute jam and just so much fun to write. I literally could write a million fics about them. This takes place at the end of the gang's senior year.  
> Please enjoy <3

It was Thursday night. Pizza night at Nino's.

Arguably for Aglionby Raven boys every night was pizza night, but for Ronan Lynch, Adam Parrish, Henry Cheng and Richard Campbell Gansey the III, Thursday nights specifically had been designated as “Pizza Nights”, due to that fact that was the day one Blue Sargent worked the late shift and she always snuck them free ice tea refills when her manager wasn’t looking. Plus now the end of the school year was drawing near and the prospect of them splitting ways across the country for college, for adventure, for the beginning of the rest of their adult lives, had them spending as much time as they could together.

This particularly humid spring Thursday night, dregs of iced teas in perspiring glasses, remnants of pizza crusts curled up on plates, found Blue throwing herself down beside Ronan in the booth that had unofficially been claimed as ‘theirs’ for the better part of a year and punched Ronan in the arm. A wolfish grin marred her face that immediately put Ronan on guard, dropping the pen that he had been using to draw a tattoo on Adam's forearm as he had the world's most boring discussion with Gansey about physics or something equally dull that no one else at the table cared about if you could take the ridiculous faces Henry was making into his phone and Ronan’s aborted masterpiece on Adam’s arm by any measure.

“What’s wrong with your face Maggot?” Ronan asked, eyes narrowing at Blue’s grin that became even wider, showing even more teeth. She looked him up and down like he was a prime cut of steak that had just been served up for dinner and frankly he was quite disturbed. Had she hit her head? Was she having a stroke? In a very uncharacteristic move Ronan removed his phone from his pocket and started dialling emergency services.

Blue slapped his phone out of his hands. It landed with a soft whump on the sticky table. “I’ve recently come to notice what an exquisite physical form you have Lynch.” Blue announced. That statement drew the attention of all four of the table's occupants to Blue, the expression of ‘what the hell?’ written on Gansey’s, Adam’s, and Henry’s faces complimented the look of disgust on Ronan’s. Ronan reached out for his phone again to finish dialling emergency services.

“Stop that Lynch,” she said as she forecefully grabbed his hands holding them in hers against her chest, ignoring the others who had all opened their mouth to start interrogating her with stupid questions like: ‘Are you quite well Jane?’ and ’you do know Ronan is gay right and already taken?’ and ‘Blue I thought we had something special and beautiful and unique and I completely agree with you how exquisite Lynch is but how could you betray us like this?!”

Blue steam rolled ahead to explain herself over the mayhem she had unleashed.“What I meant to say is that Lynch is exactly the missing piece for my art project final.” Blue announced, giving the table a stern and exasperated look she had perfected over the past year. Turning to face Ronan, who had pulled his hands out of her grasp and was rubbing them on his dark jeans, “ I need you to be my model Lynch. Your face is perfect!” she pleaded. 

“Fuck no!” Ronan spat. Arms folded, chin jutted, he was a model of stubborn and immovable marble. He really would be absolutely perfect for this project, Blue thought, exactly the look she needed once she convinced him that was. But if Ronan was stubborn then so was Blue, and she was pretty confident she could out stubborn Ronan’s stubborn.

“Come on Lynch, pretty, pretty please?” Blue’s voice now high and needling in a specific way she knew he found annoying. “You haven’t even heard what the project is." She grabbed his hands again and his gaze at the same time looking up at him from under her thick dark lashes. Gansey had once described Blue’s gaze as orbs of warm liquid honey in Ronan’s hearing, which they had both immediately gagged over. Thankfully Ronan was not Gansey, and it was not pleading puppy dog eyes she leveled at him now, but 'break and you lose' competitive eyes. Ronan extracted his hands again and folded his arms across his chest away from her grabby girl hands and took up the challenge.

“I don’t care what the project is Maggot. The answer is still: Hell. No.” Ronan said enunciating the last two words like Blue couldn’t understand him properly. “You have a perfectly good boyfriend sitting right across the table there why can’t he do it? Stop propositioning me.” Not breaking eye contact he nodded his head in Gansey’s direction, who started making unsure hmming noises at the prospect of said modelling request being transferred to him.

Blue huffed, little tufts of dark hair blowing upward where they had escaped from glitter encrusted clips. Arms folded she narrowed her eyes even more at Ronan, glare deeping, expression hard.

“Bluebell, light of my life, I would certainly be more than happy to help if you—“

“Not right now Henry.” Blue interrupted, not breaking eye contact with Ronan. “In any other situation yes, but unfortunately it has to be Lynch. It’ll only look right if it’s Lynch.”

Ronan lifted an eyebrow. Blue mirrored with one of hers. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and the edges of her vision began to blur but no way was he going to blink first. The group, now understanding this was some bizarre Ronan-Blue friendship ritual that no one apart from the two of them really understood, went back to what they were doing before Blue had unceremoniously ruined their peace.

Blue leaned forward into Ronan. Ronan leaned forward into Blue. Eye contact unbroken. Cross eyed Blue whispered, “You owe me Lynch. I’m calling in my favour right here, right now. Help me with my art project or I’ll tell Gansey about the time that you---ooof” Blue blinked as a palm was slapped over her mouth and she got the full brunt of Ronan's icicle stare as she opened her eyes. Her lips curled under his palm, knowing she had him in her grasp. Who was the grabby one now Lynch, she thought victoriously.

“You wouldn’t dare,” He hissed down at her. It was true. Blue had promised she would never mention that particular incident of that particular afternoon as long as they both shall live, and Blue was a woman of her word. But Ronan had to remember their terms: she would keep her mouth shut about that particularly hilarious but sensitive event she had the unfortunate hilarity of witnessing as long as he owed her a favour, no questions asked, at some point in the future. Well here she was collecting her favour.

Waggling her eyebrows, she licked his palm, sniggering as he reeled back, nose crinkled, wiping his hand on his black jeans for the second time that night.

“Fine.” He spat out, voice full of venom. “I”ll help with your stupid art project Sargent. I just hope you’re happy you little blackmailing maggot.”

Blue was spectacularly happy.

***

Blue Sargent prided herself on being a sensible girl. When you grew up like her in a house full of psychics, knowing she would kill her true love as soon as she kissed them, being sensible was an identity she clung to. However, though Blue was sensible, she could often be fanciful. Being sensible was all well and good to a point but her heart was full of dreams and colour that begged release. She wanted to make her mark on this world, not just be another extra in the crowd, part of someone else’s narrative, the supporting act. She wanted to be the star of her own story, front and centre, and if her fanciful side told her she had to bully Ronan Lynch to be part of her vision for this particular chapter of her story, so be it.

“You dirty little liar Sargent.”

Blue shot an icy look up at Ronan as he stood in front of a mirror in the reading/sewing/cat room. So ok, technically she’d promised Ronan her project would take one afternoon, and ok here they were working on her art project for the third afternoon that week, but that wasn’t really her fault. I mean she could have technically been finished earlier and not had to rope Lynch into modelling at all if her assigned partner hadn’t been such a bore throwing around words like ‘over-ambitious’ and ‘un-realistic’ and ‘impossible.’ But Ronan didn't need to know that small, tiny, insignificant, unimportant detail. 

Now significantly behind schedule Blue silently cursed her fanciful side. It seemed the sensible side of her had been taking a long nap, or somehow kidnapped and drugged, allowing her much less discerning nature overtake her brain in one big crazy lapse of judgement. So what if her project turned out dull, boring and unoriginal, what was she thinking? Fire her partner and bully Ronan to be the model for her art project in the name of creativity and originality? Utter madness was what had apparently overcome her. Ronan hadn’t stopped complaining for the last hour he had been in her house. She was just about ready to strangle him if the way her head was throbbing said anything.

“For the last time shut up Lynch,” She muttered darkly around a mouthful of safety pins. “You know I’ll stab you if you’re not careful.”

“Go on Maggot,” he goaded, getting the promised stab in the side as Blue tried to finish pinning the final pieces to the elaborate jungle of fabric of the jacket she had created.

“Why do I even have to be here, this house is full of witches,” Ronan grumbled, “ It smells like piss in here, your cousin hasn’t stopped oogling me once this whole week, which is frankly disturbing with the get up you’ve got me in which literally looks like a circus tent as drunk clown vomited up in his sleep, and i’ve been stabbed a hundred gajillionty times with rusty nails that have been who knows where that i'll porbably get tetanus and die.”

Blue could feel her face get redder and stormier with each word that passed his lips, by the end she was surprised that there wasn’t steam coming out of her ears. She stabbed the last pin in, harder than she actually meant too, a tiny sense of vindication breaking through her anger as she felt Ronan jump slightly. She stood back to admire her masterpiece for a moment then promptly walked out of the room.

“Fuck maggot, watch yourself! Wait where are you going? You can’t leave me here in this goddamn torture device I can’t move!”

“No you watch yourself.” She threw over her shoulder as she stormed down the hallway, passing Orla who, in Ronan’s defense, was conveniently sprawled out seductively on her bed right in line of view of the sewing/cat/reading room, and face planted on her own bed letting out a scream into her many throw pillows.

A couple of minutes later she heard footsteps shuffling into her room and felt the end of her bed dip under a sudden weight. A finger poked her in the calf.

She mumbled into her pillow, "Leave me alone. Just go home, you don't have to partake in my stupid project, its a lost cause anyway." 

"Your just going sulk for the afternoon then?" Ronan retorted, "What happened to revolutionizing the American public school art world shit you've been spouting for the past week?"

"I realised it was a lost cause. There will be no revolutionising. Just sad pathetic boring mediocrity. So just go away. I will accept that I will just be shunned by society and doomed to live a life of dull mediocrity and averageness." Blue said rolling on to her back with a dramatic sigh, arm coming up to cover her eyes.

"Blue. Shut up, god just get up and finish the damn project already your not going to be shunned into a life of mediocrity. God you've been hanging out with Cheng and Gansey too much, over dramatic much."

“Your over dramatic.” She shot back petutantly.

Ronan just poked her calf again.

Blue sighed again for effect , dropping her arm to stare up at the ceiling at the glow in the dark stars she had stuck there when she was 8.

“Can I ask you a question Ronan?”

“Will it help you get back to finishing this project so I can finally get out of here? I do have a life you know.”

“Don’t be a dick. I’m being serious.” She threw a pillow at him. He threw it back. She caught it and sat up against the headboard, hugging the pillow to her chest. “What does it feel like to bring something out of your dreams?”

“Where is this coming from?”

“I mean its whatever... You don’t actually have to answer.” She began to say when he didn’t answer glancing over at him sitting at the end of her bed, costumeless, posture cool and casual but for the inquisitive look on his face. 

“Its... I don’t really know how to describe it. Its like if I don’t dream, if I don’t bring anything back, I feel like i’m holding my breath. At first its fine, then it starts getting uncomfortable, until it feels like i'm suffocating. Every time I close my eyes its always there, the dreaming, the possibility. And when I wake up holding whatever its like I've surfaced and can breathe again and everything is right again. It feels so natural. It’s just part of me, who I am, what I do, you know?”

It was a surprisingly heartfelt answer. “You know surprisingly I do. I mean I know you think this whole art project thing is stupid and a waste of time, and normally i’d agree with you, but I realised this art thing, this need to create is part of me. And for my whole life people have been telling me who I am and how I should live my life. And I just want to be true to me, I want people to see me, the real me, not the psychic’s daughter, not the poor small town waitress, the senators son’s girlfriend, but me Blue. And this project’s just the start. I just want to create something that makes people feel something.

"I want people to look at my art and have the same feeling I had the first time we walked in cabeswater. That magic does exist in the world that there is hope and possibility. I don’t want to be confined to this boring box of sameness. I want to create that magic and wonder. The same magic and wonder I feel everyday with my family, with you guys, and unfortunately i’m not a dreamer, I’m not psychic, i’m just me."

“That was some speech Sargent.” Ronan said softly. “I’m not really a feelings guy and this entire conversation is way to girly to begin with i’m surprised I haven’t thrown up yet and grown a vagina.” 

“Oh shut it asshole.” She threw the pillow back at him.

Affronted and about to rip into his bigoted and frankly offensive statements about gender, Ronan cut her off before she could begin her tirade."But I know what you mean to Sargent. Beyond all realm of belief I do. I know that feeling of needing to bring hope and wonder into the world.”

“Look who’s making speeches now Lynch. Colour me impressed.”

“Yeah well don’t get used to it Sargent, this is a one in ten years type thing. I’ve got an image to uphold.”

Blue snorted. “Like being a little shit you mean?”

Ronan gave her a rude gesture before carrying on “Just don’t go putting yourself down, you do you Sargent. Your actually pretty badass and your art if actually pretty bomb if were being honest in this little heart to heart. I don't think anyone could ever use the word mediocre when it comes to you.”

“Did something nice actually come out of Ronan Lynch’s mouth?! I am aghast. I thought you said it looked like clown vomit” Blue said, touched by his words.

“Yeah well don’t go around telling people shit like that and don’t you dare mention this to Gansey we had this conversation, next thing you know he’ll want to talk about feelings and our hopes and dreams and braid each other’s hair and make friendship bracelets.” Ronan shuddered at the thought as he spoke.

“I think Henry’s already made us all friendship bracelets.” Blue mused. 

“The horror.”

Blue laughed. “Ok enough touchy feely stuff for one day. We’re almost done and I want to get pictures before the good light goes. ORLA ARE YOU READY!” She yelled into the hallway the door, pulling Ronan with her as she made her way into her bedroom where she had set up fairy lights and cardboard tree cut outs on her wall “Camera! Now!”

“What the hell Sargent? Who said anything about photos?!”

Blue cackled in his face. “Its a modelling gig Lynch, you actually have to model in front of a camera,” His frown deepened. “Oh and did I forget to tell you about the runway show next Friday? Better start working on your cat walk.”

“I take back everything nice I just said Sargent, you suck and your art is fugly.”

Blue just laughed and went to grab the costume.

***

It was the night of the fashion show. Blue was putting the final touch of glitter on Ronan’s cheeks, who for all his grumbling had actually ended up being a good sport about the whole runway show especially when Blue bullied him into the chair to start doing his makeup. _(No shut up Lynch its just a bit of glitter and highlight don’t worry I won’t go full out feral on you. GET OFF ME MAGGOT. Think if Noah was here he would love it. DO IT FOR NOAH LYNCH.)_

“Ta’da!” She announced with a flourish, throwing the brush down on the table and pulled Ronan over to the floor length mirror set up in their corner of the dressing room and watched him take in her masterpiece.

“I still think it looks fucking ugly Maggot.”

“Shut up it looks amazing. Anyway its art! It doesn’t have to be pretty, its supposed to make you feel something.”

“I do feel slightly nauseous.”

She whacked him on the back, careful of not knocking anything important off the piece. “Whatever. All that matters is I think you look completely badass. I’m a genius. Hang on let me put on the final touch.”

She picked up the mask casually hanging on the back of the chair, and on tiptoes placed it carefully over Ronan’s head, glittered cheeks and eyelids now the only skin on display. Ronan cocked his head in the mirror and twisted his torso side to side examining the final product. Blue had quite undone herself if she did say so herself. It didn’t quite match up to the picture in her head but it was close, closer than what she had hoped just last week when she was ready to cut Lynch’s throat with craft scissors if he didn’t stop complaining about how awful it was. The entire creation was a jumble of colour- like Blue had taken every colour of the spectrum and used them twice in no discernible manner that still somehow drew your eye to certain places and tricked your brain into thinking it was one cohesive work when you couldn’t really tell what tied it all together. It didn't seem like it should work only that it did work and if you took one piece away it would seem like there was something missing.

“Ronan,” Blue began, catching his eye in the mirror, “Seriously thanks for doing this. I know there is a million things you’d rather be doing than being my model in this stupid fashion show but it means a lot to me really.”

“Aw don’t go getting all mushy on me now Sargent. We had our deep and meaningful conversation for this decade. I’ve already got Dick always breathing down my neck of how proud he is of me and how much I mean to him and how happy he is we’re finally getting along, let’s not start that business between us too. We’re bros right? And bros help each other out by modelling in their bro’s stupid high school fashion show so they can win a stupid scholarship so they can go save the trees in the fucking Amazon and make hippy art and all the shit.”

“Wow Ronan you really know how to make a girl feel special.” She grinned, wiping away a false tear, and offered her fist to Ronan. “Bros right?”

“Bros.” Ronan agreed, bumping his gloved fist against hers. “Ok let’s go win this modelling shit. America’s next top fucking model coming through!”

He walked away with the grace of a lion, imposing and feral, disappearing behind the screen leading to a cacophony of lights and electronic music. Blue ran to monitor showing of the recording showing what was happening out front to see Ronan stalking down the runway like he had been born for it. He raised both arms making the multicoloured cloak he was billow majestically behind him, the branches of the ghostly mask lighting up like the night sky as the spotlight found it’s mark. Under the red, blue and purple lights he looked otherworldly. A dream. A nightmare. She didn't know if she felt like laughing or crying. Her heart felt full, thumping in time with the deep bass of the music filling the auditorium.

‘LYNCH YOU FUCKING MAJESTIC BEAST!” She yelled, running into him arms wide as soon as he stepped backstage, the scream of the audience trailing behind the models as the final deep bass bars of music wrapped up. Blue reflected midair she probably should have thought through a little better as it was like running into a brick wall, with added spikes thanks to the gauntlets and arm bands he was wearing, knocking the air out of both of them.

“See,” she gloated up at him, “That wasn’t so bad now was it, and i’m going to take that eye roll you just gave me as _‘yes Blue actually it was pretty badass and I was a misogynist piece of shit for complaining so much about this modelling thing but lo and behold I actually had a good time and fucking owned it._ ’” That earned her a toothy grin as Ronan manhandled her under his armpit and began messing up her wild spiky hair, which frankly Blue was quite impressed he was still able to do in his current get up.

“Whatever Maggot. Just don’t get any ideas like I made abundantly clear this whole time this is a one time thing only.” Ronan groused, now extracting himself from the costume as they returned to Blue’s messy corner of the dressing room. She hip checked Ronan, winking at him knowing full well no matter what he said, he would have her back and she would have his. Before they knew it were swallowed in the mass that was the rest of their friends and family, having bullied their way past the harried student stage manager and loudly exclaiming their pride in Blue’s spectacular creation and hilarity of the seeing Ronan model said creation.

Embraced in her people Blue had the wild thought- if only The Blue of a year ago could see me now. Not only participating in a school event, but with the nastiest, sharpest and Raveniest of all Raven boys at first glance embodied the very type of boy she had once sworn to herself she would never let herself be entangled with. But no matter how much Ronan would vehemently deny ever being friends with a witch like her, and no matter how much she wanted to physically throttle him 95% of the time for better or for worse they were friends, both grown from the same magical Henrietta soil and shared experience of love and loss on the ley line. Her heart was full with fondness for this ridiculous boy struggling to get out from under Gansey’s arm, visions of the future and a sense of knowing that maybe they were messy and imperfect and they created messy and imperfect things, but it was true to them, it made sense and no matter where the road led them next year they would always be friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on tumblr! @thepieiseverywhere is my TRC blog


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